Roles of fame: Gong Li returns for new movie
A true professional, Gong Li is back in the limelight as she collaborates with long-time friend and former partner Zhang Yimou on a new film, writes Vivian Chen
Like the many rooms she has entered, Gong Li owns this one the moment she walks into the suite at The Peninsula Hong Kong. Arriving for our interview, the beauty flaunts her femme-fatale physique in a sleek ensemble of monochrome pant suit, leaving us smitten with her megawatt beam.
More than 25 years in the film industry have transformed the once innocent daughter of academics into a sophisticated incarnation of a celluloid dream. The beginning of that dream can be traced back to 1987, when she was in Beijing’s prestigious Central Academy of Drama and was cast by fellow alumnus Zhang Yimou in his directorial debut, Red Sorghum.
Her raw beauty and effortless acting wowed audiences at home and abroad.
The film garnered critical acclaim and won the coveted Golden Bear Award in Berlin. However, it only earned Gong a pay cheque of 200 yuan (HK$255).
The actress laughs when this is mentioned, explaining: “[Zhang and I] were both young and the only thing we knew and the only thing we did was make movies.”
The film also started a prolific chapter for the long-time collaboration between Gong and Zhang.
Years following Red Sorghum’s success, the two became intimate partners in business and in private life.
The golden couple’s obvious chemistry shone through in prominent films such as Ju Dou (1990), Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and The Story of Qiu Ju (1992). These films invariably starred Gong as a tough, rebellious heroine.
Such celebrated and award-winning works contributed to the rise of the so-called fifth generation of Chinese filmmakers in light of the post- Cultural Revolution era. They also made Gong the most recognisable face of the renaissance of Chinese cinema.
However, Zhang and Gong’s romantic relationship was doomed, in similar fashion to the tragic endings of on-screen lovers in the many films they had made. The pair ended their filmmaking collaboration after Shanghai Triad in 1995. This opened a world of opportunities for Gong. Famous filmmakers, such as Chen Kaige, Wong Kar-wai and Sun Zhou, put her in a diverse spectrum of characters, from the Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Farewell My Concubine to Breaking the Silence.